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| West Indies pull off last-ball win in a thriller JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 6: In a highly dramatic start to the one-day series, West Indies pulled off a sensational last-ball victory against India here today after crowd trouble almost resulted in the match being awarded to the tourists............more Break
affected team’s JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 6: For West Indies skipper Carl Hooper there could not have been a more fascinating start to the one-day series against India but the Gyanese admitted the break in the game at a crucial........more India will
bounce JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 6: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is confident that the hosts will bounce back and clinch the one day series against West Indies.........more Fortunes
continue to BLED (Slovenia), Nov 6: Fortunes continued to fluctuate for Indian men and women teams as they lost the 10th round to England and Russia respectively in the 35th Chess Olympiad.........more |
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12th State Billiards, Snooker
Championship Nishant claims Jr Billiards title * Major upsets in Sr Billiards as Vishal, Kamal lose league ties Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 6: Nishant Azad has became the Junior Billiards champion in the 12th edition of the State Billiards and Snooker Championship after..........more Inter-College
Cricket Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 6: The GGM Science College today registered a big 104 runs victory over Government Medical College (GMC), thereby reaching the semi-finals of the Inter-college Cricket Tournament underway at University..........more State
Taekwon-Do Excelsior Correspondent UDHAMPUR, Nov 6: Eighth State ITF Taekwon-Do Championship, organised by the Udhampur Taekwon-Do Association, concluded yesterday with the holding of prize distribution function.........more |
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Comments Windies should look back to disppointing fielding.... Kumble gets 300 wickets in ODIs.... Controversy over Govt expenditure at World Cup Chess meet.... |
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West Indies pull off last-ball win in a thriller JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 6: In a highly dramatic start to the one-day series, West Indies pulled off a sensational last-ball victory against India here today after crowd trouble almost resulted in the match being awarded to the tourists. Ramnaresh Sarwan hit a boundary off the last ball to snatch a four-wicket win for his side after West Indies messed up a favourable run-ball equation in the last three overs. With West Indies needing 13 runs from the last three overs to overtake India’s 283 for six, a section of the crowd, sensing a defeat for the home team, began throwing missiles onto the ground, holding up the game. Repeated requests from officials and players failed to calm the restive crowd and the two teams walked back to pavilion raising fears of the match being awarded to the touring side as it had happened at the Eden Gardens in the semi-finals of the 1996 World Cup against Sri Lanka. Even as the official broadcasters announced the abandonment of the match and West Indies being declared winners, sanity prevailed among the spectators and the two teams came out to complete the remainder of the match. What followed saw an incredible comeback by India as Ashish Nehra gave away just one run in the 49th over while claiming the wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul which left West Indies requiring six runs from the last over. Three singles and a run-out later, Sarwan faced Agarkar for the last delivery and smashed the full-toss through covers to bring up the thrilling victory for West Indies. "I was looking for him (Agarkar) to bowl a yorker and I thought I will hit him in the covers," Sarwan, later declared man of the match for his unbeaten 83, said. While it was celebration time for Sarwan, disappointment writ large on Agarkar’s face, the Mumbai all-rounder having played a career-best knock of 95 earlier in the day to propel India to an imposing total. Sarwan’s knock also eclipsed a fine innings by teammate Wavell Hinds who kept his side in the hunt through the innings with a brilliant 93. Hinds laid the foundation of the West Indies run chase in a 86-run second wicket stand with Marlon Samuels who came up with a sterling 51. Earlier, India elected to bat and overcame the early loss of openers Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly to post a good score on a pitch that had been the subject of intense discussion before the match. Agarkar, who was surprisingly sent to bat at number three, and V V S Laxman put on 98 runs for the third wicket, the stylish Hyderabad batsman compiling an impressive 47 before being clean bowled by Mahendra Nagamootoo. Agarkar found another fine partner in Rahul Dravid, who remained unbeaten on 46, and the two continued to score at a very decent rate. Agarkar smashed 11 fours and two sixes in his 102-ball knock as he ensured that India did not miss the services of Sachin Tendulkar who has been ruled out of the one-day series due to a hamstring injury. Agarkar, who came tantalisingly close to scoring his maiden one-day hundred, was finally out as the fourth wicket when he gave a simple catch to Chris Gayle off Pedro Collins. India lost Yuvraj Singh and debutant J P Yadav in quick succession but Dravid and Mohammad Kaif stopped the slide and added 44 runs in the last four overs that proved crucial in the end. Kaif once again came up with a cameo knock, scoring 31 from just 18 balls with five fours, three of them coming in the last over of the innings by Vasbert Drakes which produced 17 runs for India. The West Indian innings did not start on a very promising note with Gayle being dismissed for just seven runs as Agarkar carried his good performance with the bat to the bowling department too. But Hinds and Samuels put up a determined partnership that not only prevented quick loss of wickets but also produced runs at a brisk rate. The two scored at more than the required run rate to lay a sound platform for the West Indies. Particularly impressive was the way these two batsmen dealt with the dreaded spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Refusing to buckle down against the spinners who had often troubled the West Indian batsmen in the test series, the two launched an offensive against them, never allowing them to settle down to any kind of rhythm. The battering that the two spinners took reflected in their figures. While Kumble finished with one for 48 from seven overs, Harbhajan Singh went wicketless in his nine overs and conceded 68 runs, including 17 in the 47th over of the innings that swung the game decisively in favour of West Indies. The most impressive of the Indian bowlers was part-time spinner Virender Sehwag who claimed one wicket for 37 runs from his quota of ten overs. Sehwag put the brakes on the West Indies scoring right from his first over and started building pressure on the tourists who were going on smoothly at 142 for two at the half-way stage. Samuels was bowled off an inside edge against Kumble in the 21st over but West Indies batsmen went on with their job, hitting three fours in the next four balls. Hinds even lofted Kumble for a six over long-on before Sehwag was introduced into the attack. Sehwag and Kumble sneaked in five quiet overs before hinds hit the leg-spinner for his second six in a bid to break the shackles. Hinds, who was dropped by Kaif on 89, however, could not complete a well-deserved century and was caught behind by Dravid off Nehra. West Indian captain Carl Hooper was out cheaply for four but Sarwan and Chanderpaul batted with a lot of grit to bring their side within sniffing distance of victory. (PTI) SCOREBOARD India: V Sehwag c and b Drakes 28 S Ganguly b Collins 16 A Agarkar c Gayle b Collins 95 V V S Laxman b Nagamootoo 47 R Dravid not out 46 Yuvraj Singh c Gayle b Hooper 4 J P Yadav b Dillon 0 M Kaif not out 31 Extras (b-4, lb-6, w-5, nb-1) 16 Total (for six wickets, 50 overs) 283 Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-49, 3-147, 4-222, 5-235, 6-236. Bowling: Dillon 10-0-64-1, Collins 10-1-40-2, Drakes 10-1-62-1, Hooper 10-2-46-1, Nagamootoo 8-1-45-1, Gayle 2-0-16-0. West Indies: C Gayle c Yadav b Agarkar 7 W Hinds c Dravid b Nehra 93 M Samuels b Kumble 51 R Sarwan not out 83 C Hooper c Yadav b Sehwag 4 S Chanderpaul c Ganguly b Nehra 23 R Jacob run out 0 M Nagamootoo not out 1 Extras (b-2, lb-5, w-16) 23 Total (for 6 wkts, 50 overs) 285 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-114, 3-201, 4-206, 5-277, 6-279. Bowling: Nehra 9-1-50-2, Agarkar 9-1-42-1, Yadav 4-0-22-0, Harbhajan Singh 9-0-68-0, Kumble 7-0-48-1, Sehwag 10-0-37-1, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-11-0. (PTI) |
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Break affected team’s momentum, says Hooper JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 6: For West Indies skipper Carl Hooper there could not have been a more fascinating start to the one-day series against India but the Gyanese admitted the break in the game at a crucial stage following crowd trouble had threatened to spoil his team’s chances of victory. "The break did not help at all. The interruption broke the momentum," Hooper said after West Indies snatched a thrilling four-wicket victory off the last ball in the first of the seven-match one-day series here today. "But the boys batted brilliantly, total credit to them. It was good to see (Ramnaresh) Sarwan knock off the winning runs in the end," Hooper said. The West Indies skipper said since the "outfield was fast and the ground small and also teams have had big successful run chases here, we knew if we played well we could do it". However, he conceded that their bowling could have been tighter. "We gave away 20-30 runs more to the Indians. We could have bowled and fielded better". Sourav Ganguly tried to be positive in defeat saying the team "fought pretty well to stay in the game". "We batted well. I thought 283 was a winning total but we could not defend it," he said. Ganguly felt the team lacked in the bowling department. "The track supported spin bowling but our spinners did not bowl well." However, the Indian skipper said there was still lot of cricket to be played in the series and his team would definitely come back. (PTI) |
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India will bounce back: Sourav JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 6: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is confident that the hosts will bounce back and clinch the one day series against West Indies. Speaking to newspersons after the match here today, Ganguly said, "the series is a long one. There are six more matches to be played. Today’s match could have gone either side and ended in a nail biting finish. I’m sure we would be able to bounce back and win this series too." "We had a bad day today. We have not lost a limited over match for a long time. However, I am not disappointed the way we played," the skipper said. Regarding the Indian bowling, he said the spinners had a "bad day" today. "Overall, our bowlers did not bowl that bad," Ganguly said. Commenting on promoting Ajit Agarkar to the number three slot in the batting order, Ganguly said. "Agarkar batted and bowled well. We want to continue him in the slot till the World Cup," he added.(UNI) |
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Fortunes
continue to fluctuate for Indians BLED (Slovenia), Nov 6: Fortunes continued to fluctuate for Indian men and women teams as they lost the 10th round to England and Russia respectively in the 35th Chess Olympiad now underway here. Russia stretched its lead to a full point in the men’s section with a convincing 3-1 victory over China. Hungary (27.5) maintained its sole second position after defeating Bosnia and herzegovina by 2.5-1.5 margin while England and Germany share the third position with 26 points each. The Indian men were relegated to the joint 13th position with 24 points. In the women’s section Georgia continued with their winning ways, putting it across Hungary 2-1 to lead the table by a 2.5-point margin. Defending champion China remained in the second position with 21.5 points while the United States and Russia maintained their third position on 20.5 points. The England team proved too superior for the Indians on the top boards and that turned out to be the deciding factor on the outcome of the match. Adams, ranked 2745, targeted Sasikiran’s centre-right and did not give any respite to the young Indian in the complexities that ensued. (PTI) |
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12th State Billiards,
Snooker Championship Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 6: Nishant Azad has became the Junior Billiards champion in the 12th edition of the State Billiards and Snooker Championship after he defeated Kuldeep Sharma 255-205 in the final which was played at Billiards Hall, M A Stadium, here this evening. In the first session, Kuldeep maintained the lead but could not create much of a trouble for confident Nishant, who continued playing his natural game, not allowing his opponent to take irrecoverable lead. Nishant had an upper hand in the second session of the 90 minutes final and went ahead of Kuldeep on the score board and when the marker called off the play, the lead was of 50 points in favour of Nishant. Now, Nishant will be playing for the second title, this time against Pallav, when both will meet each other in the Junior Snooker final tomorrow at 4.30 pm in the best of five frames. Meanwhile, in a major upset of the championship, defending champion Vishal Abrol and last year’s runners-up, Kamal Rohmetra suffered a big jolt when both lost their today’s league matches. Vishal, who earlier lost to Gautam Lakra narrowly 456-435 in the first league match, was beaten by fifth seed Sohail Khalid 391-360. With just one match left, Vishal’s exist is almost certain. Whereas, Kamal Rohmetra, has one win to his pocket, today lost to Gautam Lakra 521-435. Gautam made it a big win over Kamal with highest break of 54 points. However, Kamal still has high hopes of reaching the final because the another cueist in fray, Sohail Khalid, will meet tough man in Gautam Lakra. Kamal will be meeting the wounded lion, Vishal Abrol, in the last league encounter tomorrow to make it into the final. Meanwhile, the semi-finals of the Senior Snooker will start from November 8. Kamal Rohmetra will take on Sanjeev Gupta at 12 noon, whileas Vishal Abrol will meet Kuldeep Sharma at 3 pm to clear the final position. In today’s matches, Surjeet Singh Balowria, Shanker Dass and Rakesh Sharma were markers. |
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Inter-College Cricket Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 6: The GGM Science College today registered a big 104 runs victory over Government Medical College (GMC), thereby reaching the semi-finals of the Inter-college Cricket Tournament underway at University of Jammu grounds, here. Earlier, batting first after GMC won the toss and opted to field, Science College set a target of 273 runs in the stipulated 40 overs for the loss of eight wickets, which, in reply, GMC failed chase and the whole side was bowled out for just 168 runs in 33.1 overs. Sunil Dutt was the top scorer with 58 runs off 47 balls including six boundaries, while Varun Puri (50 off 44 balls, 4x4) and Maninder (50 off 38 runs, 6x4) followed him on the scoreboard. Sameer contributed 40 runs. Zaheer Khan and Rakesh added 20 and 16 runs respectively. For GMC, Muzaffar and Amit shared two wickets each, whileas Ali Hussain, Yusuf, Arif and Rohit shared one each. Batting second, GMC lost all their wickets in 33.1 overs. Ali Hussain was the top scorer with 33 (off 17 balls, 5x4), while Arif made quick 23 runs, facing 12 deliveries with the help of five boundaries. Varinder and Yusuf contributed 19 runs each, followed by Amit and Muzaffar 18 and 15 runs respectively. Mudassir was the most successful bowler from Science College, who claimed four wickets for 27 runs in eight overs. Manohar and Maninder shared two each while Varun bagged one wicket. Mukinder clinched the last wicket on his very first delivery of the opening over. |
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State Taekwon-Do championship held Excelsior Correspondent UDHAMPUR, Nov 6: Eighth State ITF Taekwon-Do Championship, organised by the Udhampur Taekwon-Do Association, concluded yesterday with the holding of prize distribution function. Mr Balwant Singh Mankotia, MLA Udhampur, was the chief guest on the occasion, who gave away medals to the winners of various age groups. Competitions were held under the supervision of Mr Gurdeep Singh, who was tournament director. In all, nearly 200 young karatekas took part in this two-day championship held at Town Hall, here. |
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Expert Comments By Michael Holding The West Indian renaissance continues away from home, at least to a degree. They ended up winning this the first One Day International in the seven match series but they certainly cannot be totally happy with their performance. There is always going to be something in any game that you look back on and think it could have been done a little better but sometimes that is just one incident that could or could not be a significant turning point. That is not the case for the West Indies in this game. Once again coach Roger Harper especially and the captain Hooper must be a bit disappointed in the general fielding of the team. The first two test matches saw some atrocious catching, even catches put down in two innings, but things seemed to have been turned around with both the catching and ground fielding looking a lot better in the drawn third Test. The fielding in Jamshedpur again left a lot to be desired. At times even basic things like backing up the throws was being ignored. The ultimate aim of the West Indies hierarchy has to be getting everything right for the World Cup in South Africa starting in February 2003.These games here in India against arguably one of the better teams in this version of the game, anyone who doubts that fact had better look at their results in the UK recently and the ICC Trophy in Sri Lanka, have to be used as the medium through which to get that done. Everything right not only means the right combination of cricketers in the team and the right tactics to employ with that combination but also getting this team to being one of the best fielding combinations there is around. Just have a look at the better performing one day teams around and see if any of them are poor in the field, none. The two just don’t go together, even India’s improved results in this form of the game can be attributed to their improvement in the field. Of course using the games alone will never be enough and the coach will have to drill a lot of work into this squad so that their improvement is not just shown in the odd game but on a continuos basis. On the positive side, the batsmen can again be proud of the way they performed chasing the pretty big score of 283 set by India. Hinds, Samuels and Sarwan batted beautifully and although it would have been better in every regard if one of them had carried on and made a century, none could be said to have played a careless or reckless shot on their dismissal. Sarwan again in the end showed composure well beyond his experience and years, bringing the West Indies home in a tight situation. It was just his second One Day International fifty and by far the most important knock played by him so far. (TCM) |
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Kumble gets 300 wickets in ODIs JAMSHEDPUR, Nov 6: Leg spinner Anil Kumble today added another feather to his cap when he became the third bowler in the world and the first Indian to get 300 wickets in one-dayers. Kumble attained the rare feat when he got rid of West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels with a ball that took the inside edge of the Jamaican’s willow before shattering his stumps. Having made his debut against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in 1989-90, Kumble reached the magical figure in his 234th ODI with the fifth ball of his second over, to reduce West Indies to 114 for two. Samuels, who was going great guns, departed at 51. The Lanky Karnataka spinner now trails behind two Pakistan speedsters — Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, the only other members of the 300-wicket club in the shorter version of the game. (PTI) Controversy over Govt
expenditure at World HYDERABAD, Nov 6: An unsavoury controversy has broken out in Andhra Pradesh over Government’s expenditure during the recently organised second World Chess Cup Championship, with opposition Congress alleging "astronomical payment" to the hosts `Ramoji Film City’, a charge vehemently denied by the TDP Government. While Congress Legislature Party (CLP) secretary G Chinna Reddy alleged the Government had made a "grossly disproportionate payment of Rs five crore" to the organisers, State Information Minister S Chandramohan Reddy and Sports Minister P Ramulu clarified that only Rs 2.75 crore was paid which included a prize money of Rs 1.60 crore for winners. Terming the opposition charge as "unfortunate", the Ministers told a press conference here today that it was a matter of immense pride for the state to have hosted the tournament held in India for the first time. All procedures were followed and the arrangements were of truly world standards drawing appreciation from players including world champion Viswanathan Anand, they said. Stating the venue was selected by a joint team of fide and All India Chess Federation, they said Ramoji Film City had brought laurels to the state by organising the prestigious event without any hitch. "It is unbecoming of the main opposition party to be trying to politicise a sport event and adversely affect the interests of the state," they said. As many as 48 players, all Grand Masters, from 23 countries participated in the 12-day tournament held at RFC Campus from October 10 to 21. (PTI) Abhimanyu Sherpa to defend his title in national meet Excelsior Sports Correspondent JAMMU, Nov 6: Abhimanyu Sherpa, an ace climber of J&K and reigning champion shall be defending his title in the All India Sport Climbing Championship, in Sub-junior group, beginning at Delhi from November 13 to 16. The championship, a prize money tournament, is being conducted by North-Zone Sport Climbing Committee at Softhigh Artificial Climbing Wall at Ramjas Sports and Mountaineering Institute. Abhimanyu Sherpa, a strong favourite to retain the title, is likely to face a stiff challenge from Master Simon Frank of Canada, said general secretary of the Mountaineering Association of J&K, Mr Ram Khajuria. Apart from the Sub-junior, 11 years old Abhimanyu shall also compete in the under-16 boys category. He has been sponsored by the J&K State Sports Council for this competition. NEW DELHI, Nov 6: In a new twist to the doping controversy, drug tainted athlete Sunita Rani’s fight to prove her innocence has received a shot in the arm after "huge discrepancies" were reportedly found in the amount of a banned substance, nandrolone, in her `A’ and `B’ samples tested during the Asian Games in Busan. However, there have been no comments by officials of Amateur Athletic Federation of India on the reported "discrepancy". "I feel vindicated. I have been saying all along that I am innocent. I hope I will be cleared of the drug charges now," the 22-year-old middle distance runner told PTI over phone from her Sangrur residence reacting to a newspaper report here which quoted some documents to say there was a huge difference in the nandrolone level in the `A’ and `B’ samples taken after the 1500m race. Sunita was stripped of her gold and bronze medals after she tested positive for nandrolone during the Busan Asian Games. The athlete vehemently denies having taken any performance-enhancing drugs. Result of the ‘A’ sample taken after the 1500m run shows nandrolone at 21 nanograms per millilitre whereas in the ‘B’ sample it is six - a variation which experts say is unheard of, according to the news report. "There is a big difference in the first sample taken after the 1500m run. Unless there is a calculation error, it is rather unusual," a sports medicine expert said on condition of anonymity. "This discrepancy questions the reliability of the results. Once an error is found, you can always cast aspersions on the results of the two other samples taken after the 5000m," the expert said. "Had she not taken part in the 5000m, one could have really argued her case showing the big difference in the `A’ and `B’ samples taken after 1500m." Sunita also found the discrepancy rather unusual and believed that it would strengthen her case. "I have not heard of such variations till date. The laboratory which conducted the tests is not a local or district level lab likely to make mistakes," she said. "For them it is just a change in procedure but my career is at stake. I cannot fight this alone. I need the cooperation of everybody," she said. The Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI), which has constituted a one-man Sushil Salwan enquiry committee to probe the doping scandal, will, however, wait for the committee’s report before deciding its future course of action. "It is premature to comment on newspaper reports. We have our own enquiry committee and we will wait for the report which is expected by this week," AAFI secretary Lalit Bhanot told PTI. Bhanot said AAFI will go through the report and observations of the enquiry committee and take decisions taking into account "all aspects of the report". (PTI) |
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